Thief-proof door pull for automobiles

ABSTRACT

To prevent lifting a door latch rod of an automobile by the hook end of a coat hanger or other tool inserted into a locked car from the outside, the head of the latch rod is made with a bottom surface which will be flush, or substantially flush with the top of the window frame of the door when the latch rod is pushed down to locking position. For existing automobiles a head may be made in the two parts to fit around the existing head of the pull rod, and shaped at its bottom to fit flush with the window frame when pushed down.

United States Patent 11 1 1111 3,860,278 Dalia Jan. 14, 1975 [54]THIEF-PROOF DOOR PULL FOR 3,335,394 8/1967 Miller 339/208 X AUTOMOBILES3,391,419 7/1968 Thorne-Thomsen 16/121 [76] Inventor: John F. Dalia,1517 Empire Blvd., Primary Examiner RiChard E Moore Webster 14580Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Shlesinger, Fitzsimmons & [22] Filed: Apr. 9,1973 Shlesinger 1 l. N 4 1 PP O 3 8,994 [57] ABSTRACT To prevent liftinga door latch rod of an automobile 2% 292/347 9 35 by the hook end of acoat hanger or other tool in- 1 B 2 serted into a locked car from theoutside, the head of 1 1e 0 SZZE EE 70 16 the latch rod is made with abottom surface which will ll be flush, or substantially flush with thetop of the win- 56 R f d dow frame of the door when the latch rod ispushed 1 e erences down to locking position. For existing automobiles aUNITED STATES PATENTS head may be made in the two parts to fit aroundthe 574,755 1/1897 Oehler 292/DIG. 2 existing head of the pull rod, andshaped at its bottom 2,233,278 2/1941 Aldeen 292/166 X to fit flush withthe window frame when pushed down. 2,694,917 11/1954 Trammell, Jr.292/DIG. 2 2,793,521 5/1957 Cannon 70/181 2 Clalms, 8 Drawing FlguresPATENTED JAN 1 4!.975

TIIIEF-PROOF DOOR PULL FOR AUTOMOBILES The present invention relates toautomotive vehicles, and more particularly to pull knobs for unlatchingthe doors of such vehicles.

The latches on conventional automobile doors are locked or unlocked bypulling on, or pushing down, respectively, a mushroom-shaped head formedon or secured to a lock rod that is reciprocal vertically in the door,and which operates the locking mechanism for the door by itsreciprocation. A door with this type of pull on it, however, can readilybe opened by inserting the hook portion of an ordinary wire coat hangerbetween the glass of the door and the rubber gasket around the glass,and pulling upwardly on the head of the rod. This makes it easy for athief or a joy rider to open the door of a parked automobile.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a pull for operatingthe latch rod of an automobile door which will make it impossible toopen the door with a wire coat hanger or the like.

Another object of the invention is to provide a pull of the characterfor the purpose described, which can be applied to existing doorpull-rods so as to make it possible to achieve the advantages of thepresent invention even on existing automobiles.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent hereinafter from thespecification and from the recital of the appended claims when read inconjunction with the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of an automobile showing doorpulls made according to the present invention for latching andunlatching the doors of the automobile, one of these pulls being shownin released position, and the other being shown in depressed, lockingposition;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are a side elevation and an end view, respectively, on anenlarged scale, showing this pull;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation showing a two-piece pull constructed to fitaround the conventional head of a conventional automobile door latch rodso as to adapt the present invention to use on an existing automobile;

FIG. 5 is an end elevation of this two-part embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view on the line 6-6 of FIG. 5 but on an enlargedscale;

FIG. 7 is a view showing how the invention may be adapted to one type ofautomobile door of existing automobiles; and

FIG. 8 shows how the invention may be adapted to use on another type ofdoor.

With this invention, the vertically-reciprocable door latch rod of theautomobile has a head rigidly secured thereto, which has a horizontalplane bottom surface that fits flush against the sill of a window of thevehicle when the door latch rod is in its down, locking position, sothat it is impossible, to open the door of the vehicle from the outside,when the window is closed and the door locked, by inserting a tool, suchas the hook portion of an ordinary wire coat hanger, between the glassof the door and the rubber gasket around the glass and pulling upwardlyon the latch rod.

Referring now to the drawing by numerals of reference, 10 denotes anautomobile having doors 11 and 12 in which there are panes of glass 13and 14, respectively. The doors may be constructed as shown in FIG. 7or, in FIG. 8, or in any other conventional manner.

In FIG. 7, the door has an outside metal panel 16, and an inside metalpanel 18. The glass pane 13 of the door is slidable vertically betweenthe rubber gaskets 20 and 22 on the outside and inside panels 16 and 18,respectively. Here the inside panel is formed with a horizontal ledge 24against which the head 26 of a pull rod made according to one embodimentof this invention is adapted to seat when the door is locked. This head26 as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, has an arcuate upper surface 28 and aplane horizontal undersurface 30, and parallel plane sides 32 and 34.The head-is adapted to be made integral with, or fastened in any desiredmanner to, the operating rod 38 (FIG. 7) of the conventional latchmechanism for the door. As will be clear from FIGS. 1 and 7, when thehead 26 is depressed, it seats flush against the horizontal planesurface 24 of the ledge of the door, preventing anyone from getting ahook under the head, as clearly shown at the right in FIG. 1. The headis shown in dotted lines in FIG. 7 in the lifted position it occupieswhen the door is unlatched.

In order to use the invention on existing doors, the head may be made intwo pieces as shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6. These pieces 40 and 42 aremolded, or hollowed out to fit around opposite sides of the head 44 ofthe ferrule 46 of a conventional door latch rod 38. The two parts 40 and42 of the knob of the present invention may be glued together byadhesive 41 or otherwise secured together about the conventional head44; and to prevent movement between them, one of the parts, such as thepart 40, may be provided with protuberances 48 to engage in recesses 50in the other part 42.

Where the inside panel 18 of a door is shaped as shown in FIG. 8 with arounded top surface, the head of the present invention may be made withan inwardly downwardly inclined bottom surface as shown at 52 in FIG. 8to be substantially flush with the adjoining surface of the window framewhen the pull rod of the door is pushed down to latched position.

The side surfaces of the head may be knurled as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5,if desired, so as to make it easier to lift the latch rod to which thehead is attached. If desired, also, the side surfaces of a knob may bemade to converge toward one another downwardly so as to make it easierto grasp and lift the latch rod.

Other modifications of the invention will be obvious to those skilled inthe art.

While the invention has been described, therefore, in connection withspecific embodiments thereof, it will be understood that it is capableof further modification, and this application is intended to cover anyembodiments of the invention which come within the disclosure or thescope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In an automotive vehicle door which has a window pane, a frame aroundsaid pane including a sill at the bottom of said frame, a latch forlocking the door, and a vertically reciprocable pull rod for operatingthe latch,

a head rigidly secured to said rod so that when said head is gripped andpulled upwardly, said rod is lifted to release the latch and when saidhead is pushed down said rod is lowered to move the latch to lockingposition, said head having a bottom surface which conforms inconfiguration to the upper surface of said sill so that when said rod islowered to locking position at least the bottom edge surface area ofsaid head contacts and is contiguous to the upper surface of said silland is flush with the same over substantially the whole of the area ofsaid bottom edge surface, and

said head having a smooth, arcuate projection-free top surface whichextends smoothly from one bottom edge area to corresponding oppositeedge area and has a smooth juncture at each of its opposite ends withopposite ends of said bottom edge surface, and said head havingsubstantially parallel seat thereon.

1. In an automotive vehicle door which has a window pane, a frame aroundsaid pane including a sill at the bottom of said frame, a latch forlocking the door, and a vertically reciprocable pull rod for operatingthe latch, a head rigidly secured to said rod so that when said head isgripped and pulled upwardly, said rod is lifted to release the latch andwhen said head is pushed down said rod is lowered to move the latch tolocking position, said head having a bottom surface which conforms inconfiguration to the upper surface of said sill so that when said rod islowered to locking position at least the bottom edge surface area ofsaid head contacts and is contiguous to the upper surface of said silland is flush with the same over substantially the whole of the area ofsaid bottom edge surfaCe, and said head having a smooth, arcuateprojection-free top surface which extends smoothly from one bottom edgearea to corresponding opposite edge area and has a smooth juncture ateach of its opposite ends with opposite ends of said bottom edgesurface, and said head having substantially parallel sides joining atright angles with said bottom surface thereby to leave no projectionsbetween said head and said sill, when said rod is in locking position,under which a tool can be inserted from the outside of the vehicle toraise said head and unlock said door.
 2. An automotive vehicle door asclaimed in claim 1 wherein the upper surface of said sill is a planesurface, and said head has a horizontal plane bottom surface to seatthereon.